Adele Bertei was a founding member of no-wave musical insurrectionists The Contortions, and a personal assistant to Brian Eno. Bertei was lead singer for the Bloods, which is considered the first out, queer, all women-rock band. She has appeared in several indie films, most notably as a lead character Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames. She has toured with, written songs for, and recorded as a backing vocalist for artists as diverse as Tears for Fears, Thomas Dolby, Sandra Bernhard, Culture Club, Scritti Politti, and Whitney Houston. Her duet with Thomas Dolby on “Hyperactive!” was a top twenty hit in the UK, as was her single with Jellybean Benitez, “Just a Mirage”. She is the author of No New York: No Wave and the Women who Shaped the Scene (2026), Peter and the Wolves (2020), Why Labelle Matters (2021), and Twist: Tales of a Queer Girlhood (2023).
Images, in chronological order: Pat Place, Kiki Smith, and Adele Bertei (undated), anonymous photographer, courtesy of Adele Bertei ; Hell in Britain, Newspaper clipping about Pure Hell (1978) ; Lydia Lunch, Adele Bertei and Anya Phillips (undated), anonymous photographer. All photographs courtesy of Adele Bertei.
